


Shivers

by captainkaltar



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Academy Era, Awkward Flirting, Canon Compliant, Canon Universe, Hurt/Comfort, Kisses, M/M, Mutual Pining, POV Marco Bott, Romantic Tension, Sharing a Bed, Spooning, Stargazing, Survival Training, Training, Young Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-24
Updated: 2015-12-24
Packaged: 2018-05-05 19:40:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5387843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainkaltar/pseuds/captainkaltar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jean and Marco are paired on a training mission, but things take an unexpected turn when Jean falls off his horse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shivers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sweatpantz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweatpantz/gifts).



Of all the body parts he could possibly injure, Jean had to gash his thigh. And of all the places in the world he could possibly get hurt, he had to fall off his horse on a training mission, in the middle of the forest, with no one around to help him. 

No one, that is, except for me. 

All my medical experience comes from a few lessons we got during training. All of the wilderness survival missions I’ve been on before have gone smoothly, without injuries or broken gear or even bad weather. And to top everything off, even thinking about touching Jean’s bare skin makes my head go all foggy and my skin go all shivery. 

I want to very badly. I want to hold him, I want him to hold me. It hasn’t always been this way: I’ve known him for a couple of years now, and he used to be just another cadet in my eyes. But something’s happened in the past few months. Jean’s gone from being a fellow trainee to a close friend to the kind of person who make your heart beat faster whenever they walk past, because they’re too attractive for their own good. 

Not that Jean’s in a particularly attractive state now. He’s sprawled on the ground, groaning in pain, bleeding profusely from his left thigh and from several other cuts on his arm and chest. His forehead is severely bruised from where he slammed headfirst into a low-hanging tree branch. There’s blood all over his pants, and a strap of his maneuver gear harness is torn. He’s growing steadily paler in the face. That can’t be a good sign… 

I’ve already done the best I can to calm Jean’s panicky horse (I’d be panicky too if someone on top of me crashed into a branch and fell onto a sharp root), and even tied both our horses to a sturdy-looking tree. I can’t put off dealing with him any longer. 

“Hey Jean, how are you feeling?” It seems like a stupid question, but I can’t think of any other way to start talking to him. 

“How do you think I’m feeling?” is his snappish reply. “Where’s our emergency gear, we’ve got to stop me from bleeding anymore!” 

“Hang in there,” I rummage through our saddlebags until I find a roll of fabric bandages. “There, this should staunch your cuts until we get back to base.”

Kneeling next to him, I survey the damage done by the fall. It’s an ugly sight: I’m going to have to cover the entire left side of his torso in bandages, and I’ve never seen so much blood in my life.  
“Err, Jean, you do realize that— you realize that if I’m going to bind your cuts, I’ll have to— I’ll have to—“ Why is it so hard to talk to him sometimes? If this was anyone else, I’d have them all patched up by now! 

“You’ll have to take my shirt off. I know. I haven’t got a problem with that, just do what ever you have to do to make this goddam blood stop.” 

“It’s not just your shirt, I’ll— well— your pants— you’ve got a big cut on…” oh no, oh no, I can feel the blush invading my face. 

To my surprise, Jean’s face is reddening too. “You’re going to take my shirt and my pants off. In the middle of the woods with no one else around.” He pauses for a second, his blush intensifying. 

“I guess it has to be done. Ready?” I kneel next to him, wielding the bandages in one hand. 

“Ready” he sighs. 

Unbuckling the top half of his harness is easier than expected, given all the times I’ve gotten tangled in my own maneuver gear. Tossing the web of straps and buckles aside, I start unbuttoning his torn and bloodied shirt, baring his chest to the mild late spring air. 

His skin is surprisingly soft under my hands as I guide his arms out of their sleeves. Jean winces a few times when I bind his shoulder with strips of fabric (he’s all warm), but he remains silent. 

“Does it hurt?” 

“No, I’ve had worse. I used to fall off buildings and get cuts and stuff all the time when I was a kid, I’m used to this.” Oh, really. I’ve known Jean long enough to know when he’s putting on airs. 

“Can you shift onto your good side? I need to look at your thigh cut” I manage to say somehow without stuttering or messing up my words. Without saying anything, Jean rolls away from me, raising his wounded thigh so I can take a better look at it. 

Once I clean up the excess blood, I can see that the gash is dangerously deep. Jean will have to get some serious medical attention back at camp, and I may have to help him move. But for now, I focus on staunching and bandaging it, trying not to think about how I’m touching another boy’s thigh, trying not to think about how sensitive his skin must be, trying (and failing miserably) not to think about touching him once he’s all healed, what it might feel like to have him touch my bare skin…

 

“Oof, that was a long fall” Jean thankfully interrupts my train of thought, slumping against the tree trunk, all his bravado gone. He cuts a pitiful figure, dressed in bandages and the remnants of a very messy trainee uniform. I never thought I’d want to protect him, but now…

 

“It’s getting dark, should I get our bedrolls ready?” Without waiting for Jean to answer, I get up and start unpacking our sleeping gear. “Good thing they gave us cold weather blankets for this mission, the temperature’s dropping fast.” 

“You know it’s going to get even colder later in the night…” Jean murmurs, gazing up at me. 

“Just what are you implying?”

“Well, it would only be to conserve body heat, it’s not like I’m trying to get up to anything weird, but I think we should sleep curled up close together.” Is it just the fading light, or is he blushing? 

“I- I’ve got the beds ready.” I manage to blurt out. Curled up close. Curled up close to Jean. Falling asleep next to Jean… My head starts swimming again. 

“Do you need some help getting into bed?” I hear myself saying, although my mind is far, far away from my mouth. 

“Oh, I’m not hurt that badly, I can do this by myse- aaah!” Jean tries to shift his weight to his injured leg, but gasps in pain as it crumples underneath him. “Ohhhhh shit, that hurts!” 

“Jean!” His cries of pain pull me roughly back to reality. I dash to his side and kneel next to him, “Jean, you need to be more careful when you’re wounded like this! What if this was a real mission and there were Titans around?” 

“Ugh, stop talking about Titans, you sound like Eren. If we keep working like this and make it to the top ten, we’ll never have to face one of those giant bastards in real life.” 

“All right, no more Titans for now. We’ve got to focus on getting you ready for sleep.” I drape his wounded arm across my shoulder and pull him into a standing position. He gasps a little as he stands up, but assures me that he’s fine. 

“I’m stronger than this, Marco. I can probably even walk by myself: I’m not that badly hurt!”

“No, you can’t walk by yourself, at least not until tomorrow.” I hope that I sound authoritative, like I know what I’m doing. We make it from the base of the tree where Jean landed to the patch of flat ground where I’ve spread out our bedrolls. Gingerly, I sit on one of them, guiding Jean down with me. 

“We’re lucky that it’s warm enough to sleep without a tent” he says, his voice growing uncharacteristically gentle. 

“Oh, I guess, I guess that’s true.” It occurs to me that my arm is still around his shoulder, even though he doesn’t need my support any more. 

“Look, the stars are starting to come out.” Jean points to the sky with his uninjured arm. We look up, watching as tiny speckles of light emerge above us. Both of us are quiet for a long time: Jean seems lost in thought, but I’m completely tongue-tied. What do you say to someone when you’re deep in the forest stargazing with them? And what do you say when you’ve got your arms around each other’s shoulders? 

“Marco…” Jean breaks the silence “This might seem odd at first, but has anyone ever told you that you have stars on your face?”

“What?”

“Your freckles. On your face. They look a bit like stars, if you think about it.” 

“WHAT?” 

“Calm down, Marco! Hasn’t anyone ever complimented you before?”  
“Well, not out of nowhere like that.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re really cute?” Jean leans into me, and a trickster-like smile twines around his lips. 

“Umm, no, not really… Jean, what are you playing at?” He shifts his position from beside me to behind me, wrapping his arms around my torso and splaying his legs on either side of me. I’m effectively surrounded by Jean. Surrounded by musky, brash, lovely Jean. 

I have no idea how I’m still breathing. I have no idea how my heart is still beating. I’ve dreamed about this before, but I never thought it would be this…

There’s something on the back of my neck. Something wet and warm, trailing across my spine, exploring my hair, skimming my shoulder.

“Jean…”

“Mmm?” The wet, warm sensation lingers behind my ear, and I can feel the vibration of Jean’s voice against my skin. 

“Are you— are you kissing me?” 

“Mmhmm.” 

“Jean! Oh really, Jean?” 

“What, you don’t want me to?”

There’s only one way I can respond to that. I turn to face him, pause for a moment to gaze into his eyes, then slowly lean in, closing all the space between us…

… and I plant the quickest, most innocent of kisses on his cheek and turn away from him, my face on fire. 

“Hey, Marco!” Jean’s hand traces my jawline, a finger skims my lips. Surely he can feel just how hard I’m blushing, how much trouble I’m having with breathing, how I’ve started shaking all over again. 

“Marco, that was nice” he whispers “Do you want to kiss me again?”

“W-w-we should probably get some sleep.” I blurt out “But remember how you said we should curl up close together to stay warm at night?”

“Alright, lie down and I’ll hold you.”

“What about your shoulder?”

“It’ll be fine, it’s the thigh that’s more serious.” 

“If you say so” I pull up the covers and roll over onto my side, facing Jean. Now that I’m under covers, I realize just how tired I am. Well, it has been a long day, what with all the horseback riding and wounded Jean and that still-mysterious other kind of Jean I’ve had to deal with today. 

That other kind of Jean, the one with the sweet voice and warm skin, has his eyes closed and his lips slightly parted. While I’m curled as tight as I can, he’s splayed out in all directions, long limbs taking up all the space he can. I worm my way closer to him, pressing myself into his chest. Jean’s lanky arms fold over me, and I can feel his face burying itself in my hair. I’m still not entirely sure how I got here, but I’m so happy surrounded by Jean that I’m not going to question it.


End file.
